


Me and You at a Table for Two

by yaadein



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga), Code Name: Sailor V
Genre: F/F, is it really a girls' sleepover unless someone ends up confessing something
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28464066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaadein/pseuds/yaadein
Summary: (venus and mars, underneath the stars)***They are staring at each other and Rei's mouth is dry when she hears herself say, "I think I could kiss you better than any boy could."
Relationships: Aino Minako/Hino Rei
Comments: 7
Kudos: 62





	Me and You at a Table for Two

**Author's Note:**

> because I'm something of a homosexual, myself.
> 
> manga canon-compliant, sometime during the senshis' high school lives.

Rei knows many things. Shrine rituals and the cawing language of crows, mathematical theorems and how to press lilies. These things can be learned and Ami had once said that Rei swallows knowledge like fire swallows yellowed paper: quickly, thoroughly, indiscriminately. But sometimes, Rei knows things for no immediately discernable reason. Sometimes, the marrow in her bones whispers to her in a voice that crackles softly like candleflames.

And so it is with absolute, maddening certainty that Rei knows that Minako is hiding something.

At first glance, Rei might dismiss that as impossible. Minako is all loud talk and skipping walk, sparkling glitz and glam, strobe lights and stereo song echoing in high-heeled steps. Half the time Rei sees Minako, she catches herself blinking as though blinded from some invisible glow, her arm reflexively twitching at her side as though to block out that radiance. 

(Minako is a switch flipped on and a dial turned up at all times. Minako is vibrant, always, with no regard for the weather or change in season and sometimes just breathing the same air as her is exhausting.)

So Rei feels odd and unnerved now, watching Minako neatly unfold the spare futon, at how subdued her friend seems. Rei hadn't thought much of it earlier in the evening. Their homework had been sprawled out over the table between them, like Artemis in a patch of morning light, and Rei had glanced over her textbook only a couple of times before she was studying the distracted expression on Minako's face instead of her English assignment. 

But Minako had waved away Rei's concern, citing the late hour, the dense reading, other wayward excuses that tightly skirted the corners of Rei's pointed questions. The ensuing silence had pressed an unnamed, unfamiliar weight between them, one that hadn't eased even after their homework was put away and the lights were out.

Rei knows many things and she now knows that secrets between them sit heavy and sour in her stomach. 

Minako is lingering by the edge of Rei's futon, leaning forward to smooth a wrinkle at the corner. Her hair tumbles slowly over her shoulders, glinting like amber in the moonlight, and Rei suddenly has to smother the strange urge to rub the strands between her fingers.

(Minako is chiffon fabric, pink lipgloss, the after-scent of some perfume Rei can never quite name. She is the sound of an obnoxious giggle in the silence of a classroom, the gleeful elbow dug into Rei's side. It has always been Minako's face that Rei instinctively looks to in a crowd. It has always been the two of them together.)

"Scoot over, I wanna lie down too," Minako says suddenly, plopping down on her back next to Rei without waiting for an answer.

Rei is surprised, but doesn't question it. There is space between their arms, an invisible boundary, and Rei maintains it as she turns onto her side toward her friend.

"Is this where you tell me why you've been acting off?" she asks.

"Well, aren't you adorable when you worry?" Minako quips, eyes carefully trained on the ceiling, and Rei can't help but scowl. There is a beat of expectant silence and then Minako exhales sharply, letting out a rush of words. 

"Okay, but it's stupid. I guess I was maybe a little jealous that you got another love confession from some cute guy in your class today. Yeah, yeah, I know you _say_ you don't care about those things, but... sometimes it feels like I'm waiting for you to admit that that _was_ what you wanted all along. And then someone will take you away, because a girl like Rei-chan will always outshine everybody else and... ugh, how embarrassing!" Minako claps her hands over her face with a shriek, drumming her heels on the futon and completely missing the strange expression twisting Rei's face. "Will you say something, please?" 

"...I've never called any guy in my class cute."

Minako groans from behind her hands. "Rei-chan, _all_ the boys at your school are cute. As though being supernaturally brilliant and amazing aren't prerequisites to attend." 

Normally, Rei would have a retort poised and polished, but instead her head is full of air and her tongue is balancing the beginnings of a garbled reply.

(Minako is starshine, sunbeams, buttercups, glitter. If Rei is the refined quiet of a library, then Minako is an illicit, technicolor firework, bursting with color and cheer within a confined space. Sometimes, it's almost enough to make Rei grab at Minako's arm and yank her backwards, spin the dial down, quiet the din roaring in Rei's ears. How could anyone not notice the dancing light that pours endlessly from Minako?)

Rei swallows. "Minako-chan... why would you want to be anything like me? You're like... a star, anyone with eyes would only look at you. If some idiot boy can't see that, how could that mean something bad about you?" 

Her words are quiet and fierce and, in the darkness of the room, Rei can just make out Minako peering through her fingers. The faint outlines of her soft, unfamiliar expression are half-hidden, but Rei flushes with a start. 

"B-besides!" she snaps, tossing her head. "I hate boys! Take them all, dump them or kiss them, what do I care?" 

To Rei's relief, Minako's expression melts with a huff of exasperation. She tosses her arms back and turns her face away, blonde hair shimmering dully. A welcome reprieve for Rei's hot face.

"I could've kissed any number of boys by now," Minako retorts. "I just don't want to."

("I hate you," Rei had told her once, skirt rumpled and hair tangled from some silly squabble of theirs. But she had said it with no real rancor and Minako had only laughed, her fingers still tight around Rei's wrist. Then, Makoto had said that their push and pull was like ocean tides crashing onto shore: back and forth, over and over, but forever together. Usagi and Ami had sighed over how poetic that was and Minako had quickly let go. Inexplicably, Rei was suddenly self-conscious and irate.)

"Yes, because boys are stupid and disgusting," Rei says, propping herself up on her elbows and quietly relishing the visible sliver of Minako's expression melt from half-outraged to begrudging.

Minako's arms are stretched up and over her head, reaching towards the back wall so that her body forms an unbroken, taut line against the futon. _Do not cross_. In the quiet that follows, Rei studies the arch of Minako's back, the delicate bend of her wrists, the space between their pajamas. She feels as though the half-formed, hazy thoughts in her head are rustling loudly, like bird wings in a breeze, and stiffens minutely when Minako turns her head slowly back. The long, moonlit line of her throat glows in the shadowed room. 

They are staring at each other and Rei's mouth is dry when she hears herself say, "I think I could kiss you better than any boy could."

Rei's blood is burning in her veins, but she holds Minako's gaze evenly, tilting her head nonchalantly on her palms. There are three heartbeats of silence.

(Minako is blood smeared on dirty knees, dagger eyes and a dagger tongue, taunts and teases singing "better, better, best.")

"...I don't really care to find out," Minako murmurs, but she doesn't look away. There is something questioning hiding between the quiet carelessness of her words. Gently, the rigidity in her limbs seems to relent.

Later, Rei still isn't sure why she said anything after that. Maybe something had twisted in the pit of her stomach, maybe something had whispered _we need to_. Either way, before she can stop herself, Rei is speaking with words gilded at the edges with exactly enough derision. 

"Why, are you afraid?"

Rei knows fire better than anyone and, like tinder to a flame, like a moth to a candle, Minako sits up. In the shadow, her eyes are hard diamonds. Her grin flashes out at Rei, quick and silver like a knife.

"What do I have to be afraid of?" Minako replies, half-taunting and half something else. She breathes the words into the space between them and it sparks and crackles dimly with white noise.

(Minako is sweet as any candy and sharp as any blade. Minako is assumptions turned on their head, contradictions, tongue twisters. She is something surreal, unreal, something beyond any mythology or lore Rei has come across. Sometimes, Rei catches herself staring at their passing reflections in shop windows on the street, wondering if that is how everyone else sees Minako: a muted brightness that flickers and flashes with only a promise of something more. Rei knows better; she thinks that if she is smoke and mirrors, Minako is the dazzling light reaching surely through the haze, illuminating her.)

Rei doesn't answer Minako, dropping her hands from her face to lean closer. And for once, Minako doesn't push, except to bridge the gap between them.

There is a cacophony of heat, song, and static between Rei's ears. The kiss is dry and sweet like a summer walk with linked arms, innocent like their hair tangled together as they study. And then Minako's lips part against Rei's, softly and hesitantly, and Rei can think of nothing at all. There is only the hard slant of her mouth over Minako's, someone's eager fingers winding into mussed hair, a muffled sigh. Minako is warm and golden; her tongue burns over Rei's. Their kisses are hushed, but insistent.

("Actually, we don't need any men. You have a problem with that?" Rei had asked. They stared back at her, suddenly nameless and faceless as faint laughter bubbled in Minako's throat. Rei had leaned in further at that, feeling the easy and comfortable weight of Minako's body pressed against her, and the boys had dropped their knowing gazes. They left not long after, but Minako had let her hand linger a moment longer around Rei's waist.)

Minako pulls Rei closer still, winding her arms around Rei's neck. In turn, Rei grips harder at Minako's waist, pressing an open-mouthed kiss to the junction between her shoulder and throat. She hears Minako's breath catch and burn by her ear before impatient nails dig into her shoulders. The heat between them is thickening slowly into something dangerous and honeyed. It is pushing Rei forward and Minako lets it happen, drawing Rei down with her onto the futon.

Later, when their breath has slowed and their flushed faces have cooled, Minako shifts from beside Rei. Their legs are still tangled and Rei's fingertips are still hidden under the hem of Minako's rumpled nightshirt. Minako's lashes flutter like sleepy butterflies and Rei stares and stares, drinking her in.

_I don't think being next to you would ever have been enough._

As though sensing her thoughts, Minako's eyes lift to Rei's. The smooth and easy air between them dampens slightly. It feels charged, wary, like a tensed coil ready to spring. Unconsciously, Rei flexes her hand, letting it uncurl like a flower over Minako's smooth stomach. They both breathe. Evenly, in tandem. Neither look away.

"...Was I right?" Rei asks.

And then Minako is biting back a smile, something small and shy that glimmers behind a schooled neutral expression. 

(Because Minako is sunny daybreak peeping through nightclouds. Because Minako's hand fits just-so against Rei's palm. Because nobody knows Minako better than Rei and neither can think of one without the other.) 

"I can't be sure," Minako sniffs daintily, "but you can always try again."

**Author's Note:**

> for the love of all of my lifetimes, who asked that I read her favorite childhood series so that we could share it. I haven't sat down and actually completed a fanfiction in god knows how long, and so this fic is doubly special. thank you, wifey, for beta-ing and fact-checking this ♡
> 
> and, of course, thank you to everyone who reads this!


End file.
